A Saturday evening fire appears to have destroyed two homes on Sullivan Lane in Novi’s Cedar Springs subdivision.

Director of Public Safety/Chief of Police City of Novi David Molloy said the initial call came in at about 8 p.m. on a report of a garage fire at 25172 Sullivan. The family’s adult son was at home and was one of the first 9-1-1 callers.

Firefighters arrived on the scene located between 10 Mile and 11 Mile roads and Novi and Taft roads 6 minutes after the call came in and found the first home fully engulfed in flames, and had also spread to the home next door, 21542 Sullivan.

Molloy said dry grass and heat was a concern for firefighters in it spreading. Witnesses said the fire spread somewhat along the grass toward other homes, but firefighters were able to extinguish it before it spread any further.

With the radiant heat from the garage, Molloy said it is “very common for that to spread to an adjacent home.”

On Tuesday morning, the Novi Fire Marshal was at the scene talking with the insurance companies, and Novi, Oakland County and insurance investigators continue to investigate the fire. Molloy said there’s “nothing suspicious of the fire at this point in time.” The insurance companies will decide if either home is a total loss.

While the investigation continues, Molloy noted the family of the first home had been staining their deck that day, and several oily rags were inside the garage, which may have played a factor in the fire.

“That causes a very combustible situation,” he said.

Because the home was fully engulfed when firefighter arrived, crews took a defensive position in battling the blaze. The City of Northville fire department assisted on the call. No one was reported injured.

“We went into defensive fire operations mode instead of an offensive one,” he explained, adding that such a fire can double in size multiple times within a minute.

Molloy said minutes matter in responding to 9-1-1 emergency calls.

“Whenever you smell smoke or see that there’s fire, you have to enact that 9-1-1 process,” he said. The emergency dispatcher asks a series of questions, including if everyone is out of the home, before the emergency is toned out to firefighters. “The sooner we can be alerted of a fire or any dangerous situation, the sooner we can respond.”

pallmen@hometownlife.com

Firefighters work to extinguish the flames(Photo11: Submitted)

Two homes in the Cedar Springs subdivision were destroyed Saturday by fire.(Photo11: Submitted)